Studies on accidental gas and dust explosions

Fires and explosions are the disasters caused by uncontrolled combustion phenomena. The flame propagation during gas and dust explosions is much faster than the flame spread during fire. Therefore, the serious damages by accidental explosions often expand widely in a very short time. In this paper, the gas and dust explosions are described from a viewpoint of flame propagation phenomena. The understanding of flame propagation phenomena is indispensable to perform the consequent analysis of accidental explosions. Basic matters and recent research results on the flame propagation during gas and dust explosions are explained.